Jan. 25, 2018
Live Stats | Playsight | Match Notes
THE FLATS – Georgia Tech men’s tennis heads to Oklahoma for the 2018 ITA Kick-Off Weekend where the Yellow Jackets will face Illinois on Saturday, Jan. 27 and either Northwestern or Oklahoma on Jan. 28 – to-be-determined by the result of Saturday’s matches.
The Yellow Jackets (3-1) are coming off a back-and-forth home win over Auburn on Jan. 21. Georgia Tech was able to remain undefeated at home while dealing the Tigers their first loss of the season.
So far in duals season, seniors Michael Kay and Elijah Melendez have held down singles with perfect 4-0 records so far, coming largely from the No. 4 and 5 spots. Carlos Divar suffered his first set back in duals in a heartbreaking 6-all tiebreaker in the third set against Auburn and his fourth nationally ranked opponent this year. C. Yun has also started duals well, currently 3-1 from the No. 3 and 2 positions.
In doubles, Georgia Tech is 9-2 overall in duals matches with five teams yet to have lost. Divar and Kay enter the weekend at 3-0 at the No. 1 while Andrew Li/C. Yun, Li and Daniel Yun, and Kay and Li, all have 1-0 marks at the No. 2. Melendez and freshman Brandon Freestone are 1-0 at the No. 1 as are Phillip Gresk and Li.
Illinois has yet to play a duals match this season, but have already gone toe-to-toe with the Yellow Jackets earlier this spring in Tech’s MLK Invitational. C. Yun and Melendez were both able to secure wins over the Illini in the tournament-style matchup, however nationally ranked Illinois defeated Tech in the other positions.
Zeke Clark was the only Illini singles player to come away with an above .500 record in the MLK Invite while the duo of Alex Brown and Caleb Chakravarthi came away with a 2-1 record in doubles.
Oklahoma is currently sitting at a record of 4-0 on the year with wins over Bryant, Creighton, Arkansas, Arizona and Abilene Christian.
In singles, Alex Bakshi and Adrian Oetzbach have been the driving forces of consistent success. Bakshi is 3-0 at mainly the No. 1 and 2 positions while Oetzbach has rotated between the No. 2 and 3 spots, garnering a 4-0 record as well. Meanwhile in doubles action, Jake van Emburg/Ferran Calvo have been the lone No. 1 match for the Sooners, going 2-0 overall. More than likely, Oetzbach and Jochen Bertsch will hold down the No. 2 (currently 3-0) while Bakshi and James Davis play at No. 3 – 3-0 as well.
Northwestern is 1-1 thus far, with a win over Boise State, 5-0, and a 4-3 loss to NC State. In singles, Nick Brookes has led the way with a 2-0 duals record and 10-3 mark overall. Antonioni Fasano is the lone No. 1 player so far for the Wildcats and is 1-0 in duals and 6-3 on the year.
In doubles, NU has used 12 different teams this season. Its top used duos have been Chris Ephron and Michael Lorenzini (3-2), Dominik Stary and Ben Vandixhorn (2-3) and Brooks and Fasano (2-4). Through two dual matches, the Wildcats have one two total doubles matches.
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